National Fire Protection Association Blog

News report: Were first responders aware of dangers at Texas fertilizer plant?

Nearly one month after an explosion and fire at a West, TX, fertilizer plant that killed 14 people, LDNews, the webiste of the Lebanon Daily News, is taking a closer look at the event, and in particular, if the town's volunteer fire crews were fully aware of the dangers they faced during their response efforts.

"When they saw 30-foot flames licking the sky inside a massive fertilizer plant, firefighters in this tiny Texas town rushed to evacuate nearby buildings and raced to spray water on tanks of chemicals, hoping to prevent a catastrophe.

They didn't know, and probably could not imagine, that the plant would soon explode into a deadly fireball and lay waste to much of the community. Instead, they were more concerned with preventing toxic gas from leaking out of the facility and drifting into nearby homes."

The LDNews report references Associated Press interviews with first-responders that suggeset the primary concern was a poisonous cloud of anhydrous ammonia. But the bigger threat, according to the report, was the huge supply of the common fertilzer ammonium nitrate, which can also serve as a cheap alternative to dynamite.

The report says Tommy Muska, Mayor of West, said he did not know how much the firefighters knew about the chemicals on the property. But, the report says, it's unclear whether simply knowing about the ammonium nitrate would have been enough.

"The National Fire Protection Association has codes on handling ammonium nitrate, but it does not advise how to fight such fires because circumstances vary, said Guy Colonna, the division manager of the industrial and chemical engineering group.

Related NFPA codes and standards

• NFPA 400, Hazardous Material Code: This document applies to the storage, use, and handling of hazardous materials in all occupancies and facilities, including ammonium nitrate solids and liquids. Free access to NFPA 400.
• NFPA 472, Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents. This document identifies the minimum levels of competence required by responders to emergencies involving hazardous materials/weapons of mass destruction. Free access to NFPA 472.
• NFPA 1620, Pre-Incident Planning. This document provides criteria for evaluating the protection, construction, and operational features of specific occupancies to develop a pre-incident plan that should be used by responding personnel to manage fires and other emergencies in such occupancies using the available resources. Free access to NFPA 1620.

Also see

• Storage of ammonium nitrate was the subject of a case study at a 2010 Fire Protection Research Foundaiton symposium.

Related articles

New CSB video provides an up-close-and-personal look at damage from the recent Texas plant explosion

News reports fertilizer plant fire in Texas

USA Today article offers dire wildfire predictions

The wildfire season is off to a fortuitously slow start; wildfires have burned an estimated 175,000 acres this year in the U.S., the lowest number to date in a decade, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Experts have attributed this low figure to unusually cool weather patterns in the southeastern U.S., where the season's fires tend to form first.

Other areas of the country might not be as fortunate. A recent article in USA Today predicts that the West could get walloped, as "significant fire potential" is expected in nine states. "We've had above average temperatures and below-average precipitation in the West, a combination that doesn't bode well for a good season," Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told the newspaper. California could be in particular trouble, since the state has already experienced a substantial increase in fire activity when compared to the average acreage burned for this time of year. 

Molly Mowery, NFPA's program manager for Fire Adapted Communities and International Outreach, tells USA Today that taking preventative measures now could safeguard homes from ruin. NFPA's Firewise Communities Program offers an array of principles that can reduce the risk of wildfire damage.

For more information on these principles, visit the Firewise website.

New CSB video provides an up-close-and-personal look at damage from the recent Texas plant explosion

The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the federal agency charged with investigating industrial accidents, recently released a video underscoring the damage from the ammonium nitrate fertilizer explosion in West, Texas, that killed 14 people and injured about 200 others. Narrated by a CSB investigator, the video illustrates the destruction of schools, residences, a nursing home, playgrounds, and other locations.

"The community damage we saw in West was the worst of any chemical accident in the CSB's history," says CSB Managing Director Daniel Horowitz in the video.

Watch the chilling video on CSB's Facebook page, and review NFPA's relevant resources:

• NFPA 400, Hazardous Material Code
  This document applies to the storage, use, and handling of hazardous materials in all occupancies and facilities, including ammonium nitrate solids and liquids. Access this document online for free.
• NFPA 472, Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents
  This document identifies the minimum levels of competence required by responders to emergencies involving hazardous materials/weapons of mass destruction. Access this document online for free.
• NFPA 1620, Pre-Incident Planning
  This document provides criteria for evaluating the protection, construction, and operational features of specific occupancies to develop a pre-incident plan that should be used by responding personnel to manage fires and other emergencies in such occupancies using the available resources. Access this document online for free.

News report discusses the aftermath of a deadly fire in a home built with sustainable materials

A year after a fire that killed a New York police captain, his wife, and two teenaged daughters, code and fire safety officials continue to weigh in on the safety of sustainable building materials that impacted the spread of the blaze.

Investigators determined that the fire at the Carmel, New York, home, which was built with a sustainable type of wood panel, was initiated by the police captain's son, who discarded a cigarette in a mulch bed near the home. A member of the Putnam County Fire Investigation Team told NFPA Journal last year that "the home's [lightweight] construction definitely aided the spread of the fire."

Since the fire, there hasn't been much headway in updating or altering the city's building codes, states a recent article in The Journal News. Experts say that lightweight construction, when combined with other measures, is safe. However, research reports, including one released last year by the Fire Protection Research Foundation, note that fire can compromise this material. "With fires, these types of products are more likely to cause structural failures than traditional lumber," Robert Solomon, NFPA's division manager of Building Fire Protection, tells The Journal News. "It's a concern for homeowners and firefighters."

Solomon said that home fire sprinklers are another safeguard against rapid fire spread in homes built with sustainable materials, but he also notes that "the building lobby has been effective in not making sprinklers mandatory." What has occured in the New York town where the fire occurred is outreach efforts by firefighters to instruct the public on fire prevention and home escape planning.

Read more about the concerns of green building design in NFPA Journal.

Recent tragedy involving college students underscores the emotional impact of fire

As a Red Cross volunteer, I'm all too familiar with the physical loss associated with fire; I've seen magnificent buildings transformed to rubble and personal belongings reduced to ash. One thing I hadn't experienced was the loss of life during my volunteer responses. That changed this week as I arrived on the scene of a three-alarm fire in Boston and discovered that a Boston University student died in the blaze.

Needless to say, I was beside myself when learning the news. I didn't know the student, but guessed that the other victims--many, if not all of them, in their teens and early 20s--living in the two-and-a-half-story home were either friends with the victim or at least knew her. Attempting to supply them with whatever comforts I could after they had experienced a tragedy so emotionally painful seemed fruitless, but I had no choice but to take on the challenge.

Three victims from BU were taken to the university police department, and each of them were still in shock as we entered one of the meeting rooms; one girl took breaks from crying to answer our questions as her silent roommate remained on the floor, curled up in a ball. Luckily, they escaped the house uninjured after hearing the smoke alarms and screams of others.They knew their fellow student living atop them wasn't as fortunate, and when dwelling on this, the sobbing began again. 

After supplying them with enough funds for shoes and clothing (BU was taking care of the rest), we headed to one of the local hospitals, where a number of other victims were taken. One man in his early 20s, only two weeks away from graduating, escaped the house through his second-floor window and was about to be released from the emergency room. He, too, had no severe injuries, but did recall inhaling thick, black smoke before his escape. His mother, who made the four-hour-plus trip from New York, arrived around the same time as us, and after giving us a series of sincere "thanks you's," she grabbed her son in a warm embrace, and wept. "Don't cry, Mom," he says, as tears filled his own eyes. "I'm OK."

I've been with NFPA Journal for more than three years and have reported on people who have gone through tragedies no human being should ever experience. Witnessing the pain firsthand is a different story. The facts and statistics associated with fire loss and death are incredibly important, but this incident serves as a reminder that there's an emotional impact to fire, scars that probably take just as long to heal--perhaps even longer--than the physical ones.

Hear more of these emotional stories by watching NFPA's Faces of Fire videos.  And, whenever possible, please spread the fire safety message by utilizing NFPA's array of resources.

Training resource for fire officers presented at FDIC

A new training program has been announced for fire officers and others serving in a supervisory capacity during fire operations. The Company Officers Responsibility for Incident Safety (CORFIS) program is two and a half hours long, and assists in the understanding of NFPA 1561, Standard for Emergency Services Incident Management, and NFPA 1521, Standard for Fire Department Safety Officer.

NFPA and the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) of Ashland, Massachusetts have teamed up to promote this training, which offers guidance to a company officer in the initial stages of a fire incident. The program will be offered to the U.S. fire service. At the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) this week, materials were on display at NFA’s booth for all attendees to view.

(L-R) Bob Colameta of Max Media, program consultant; Steven Sawyer, NFPA; Ken Willette, NFPA; Michael Petroff, Chairman of Board of Directors of Fire Department Safety Officers Association; and Scott Freitag, Western Director, FDSOA.

NFPA Journal looks into death on the river

 In the spring of 1865, after spending months in the notorious Confederate prison camps of Andersonville and Cahaba, all the freed Union soldiers wanted to do was to go home. That April, they finally got their chance. They boarded the Mississippi River steamship SS Sultana at Vicksburg, Mississippi, eager to see their families again, some for the first time in years. 

Most never made it home. To find out why an estimated 1,700 people died in the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, read "Death on the River" in the March/April issue of NFPA Journal.

Eight charged in deadly Brazil nightclub fire; NFPA re-affirms commitment to help prevent similar tragedies

According to an Associated Press report in USA TODAY, eight people have been charged in connection with the deadly nightclub fire in southern Brazil that killed 241 people on January 27.

That fire ripped through the crowded Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, filling the air with flames and thick, toxic smoke. Officials say that the band performing at the club lit a flare that ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling, releasing a deadly combination of cyanide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, an event eerily similar to the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island in 2003 that killed 100 people.

"Since the Station fire, similar events have occurred all over the world," says NFPA President Jim Shannon. "In 2009, an indoor pyrotechnics display started a fire in a nightclub in Bangkok, Thailand, that killed more than 60 people and injured scores. That same year, more than 150 died when pyrotechnics sparked a fire in a club in Perm, Russia. In 2004, a patron shot a flare in the Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing almost 200. The same questions were asked after each event: How could this happen? How can we make sure it never happens again?"

See a list of the 10 deadliest nightclub fires in the world.

In the latest issue of NFPA Journal, Mr. Shannon explains how technology is making it easier for NFPA to reach people in every corner of the world -- and how events like the Kiss nightclub tragedy make us all work even harder to prevent simliar tragedies.

NFPA Journal addresses interior finish requirements of Life Safety Code

As was the case in The Station nightclub fire 10 years ago in Rhode Island, combustible insulating foam appears to have been a major factor in how the Kiss nightclub fire in Brazil began and spread, says Chip Carson in his column "Finish Issues" in the most recent issue of NFPA Journal. Because textiles placed on walls and ceilings can burn very quickly, NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, includes a number of requirements for interior finish materials. For a closer look at these requirements, including those that address cellular and foamed plastic, go to page 32 of the March/April issue of NFPA Journal or read Chip's column online.

Case studies of fires from NFPA Journal

A two-story office building, which had no fire alarms or sprinklers, was heavily damaged by a fire that began in a concealed roof void and spread undetected until it was discovered by a passerby at 5:31 a.m. Firefighters arriving five minutes later found low-hanging smoke covering the roadway near the building. During the fire officer’s initial size-up, he reported smoke coming from the roof and visible through the glass on the second floor. Using a thermal imaging camera, he also noted significant heat build-up near the ceiling and roof.

Crews advanced a hose line up a stairwell to the second floor, where they encountered heavy smoke and saw an orange glow near the floor. A quick blast of water knocked the fire down, but visibility dropped sharply as the smoke increased. When firefighters heard what sounded like a collapsing roof, they retreated and called for ventilation.

Using a positive-pressure fan to clear away the smoke, firefighters laid additional hose lines and pulled down the ceiling in an attempt to locate the seat of the fire. As they moved toward a corner of the building, they found fire at the ceiling. A glued, laminated ceiling beam had partially collapsed, and fire consumed an office. Firefighters’ attempts to knock the office fire down were unsuccessful.

Crews had just changed their air cylinders and returned to the building with larger hose lines when the incident commander ordered everyone from the building. Once everyone was accounted for, the commander ordered all hose lines to be positioned defensively. By the time the fire was finally brought under control several hours later, nearly the entire roof had burned off or collapsed into the second floor. Portions of the second floor also collapsed into the first floor.

Investigators discovered that the fire began in the ceiling above an office, but they couldn’t determine the cause of the fire due to the extent of damage. The building, valued at $2 million, and its contents, valued at $750,000, were destroyed. 

For more such incidents, read "Firewatch" in the most recent issue of NFPA Journal.